Looking Back, Seeing Fragments
by probablylostrightnow
Summary: Snippets from interviews with people who knew Shepard, after the events of Mass Effect 3. Written for Shepard's birthday.


REPORT: The following footage is all that we could reconstruct from the remnants of Ms. Allers's recording devices.

#

ALLERS: Mr. Vakarian, what would you like the galaxy to know about Elaine Shepard?

VAKARIAN: She was a fine commander, the best I could ever ask for the pleasure of serving with. A comrade-in-arms. And a good friend.

ALLERS: What can you tell the galaxy about her that they don't already know, Garrus?

VAKARIAN: She was one hell of a shot. And the woman could be smug about it, too. Every time we went out together, she'd not only count kills, she'd count bullets. If she took down one more enemy, she'd let me hear about it. If we took down the same number, she'd point out that she did it with one less shot. I got a hell of a lot more efficient trying to beat her numbers.

ALLERS: So did she deal with all her problems by shooting them?

VAKARIAN: No... no. She was always ready to fight, but she'd always rather talk. She kept me from taking a shot once... that... I'm not going to say any more about this.

#

URDNOT WREX: Great leader? Great fighter? She was all these things, but she could be gullible as hell. I could see she had her eye on T'Soni soon as she came on board. One night, after a few drinks, she comes to me and asks me about asari sexual customs. Seems she had the impression I had some firsthand experience. [Laughs.] I got the impression she had damn little experience doing the deed with humans, let alone aliens. So I told her a tall tale or three, and she ate it all up, eyes wide. I like to think that part of the reason those two got together is that she had to find out if I'd been telling her the truth.

#

KRIOS: I don't quite know what to say about her. She and my father had... something special. Something that meant everything to him. And she betrayed that, went running back to that asari. I don't think Shepard ever loved my father like he loved her. Maybe she thought she did at the time, I can't say. But... my father knew what she did, that she cheated on him, and he still forgave her. She was at his bedside... at the end. She gave him comfort. She spoke so kindly of him at his memorial service. I... I am still learning to forgive. I hope that I can.

#

TALI'ZORAH: She was always looking out for all of us. She was like an older sister to me, you know? Being Elaine Shepard's friend... it meant knowing that someone would always have your back. She was our guardian on the battlefield and off. I can't say how many times she took down a threat I hadn't even seen yet.

ALLERS: She took on a lot of responsibility for her crew.

TALI'ZORAH: It weighed on her. I ran into her once, standing at the Memorial Wall, running her finger over the names. I asked her what she was thinking, and she said, "Everyone here is here because of a mistake I made." I think after Elysium, and after she brought the whole team back against the Collectors, she thought that every mission could be perfect. So if we lost someone, it was because she wasn't good enough. Keelah se'lai, that woman was harder on herself than on her targets. At least they died quickly.

ALLERS: Thank you, Tali'Zorah. One other question – I'm hoping to interview Liara T'Soni. The last reported location I have for her is here on Rannoch. Do you know where I could find –

TALI'ZORAH: Don't look for her.

ALLERS: Why not?

TALI'ZORAH: Because I'd regret it if something happened to you.

#

WILLIAMS: She always had a thousand questions about my sisters, my family. But she never talked about hers, or about her childhood. I knew the official story of course, what had happened on Mindoir. But she never said a word about it until... one of the last nights. We'd had a few drinks and were talking, and suddenly the story just came pouring out of her. She was out in the fields when the slavers came. She hid in the crops, she could see... she could see everything. Her father shot and killed a slaver, and the raid turned into a massacre. She watched while those batarians slaughtered everyone she'd ever known, and there was nothing she could do.

Soon as she was able to enlist, she made a beeline for sniper training. She was going to make damn sure she would never be in that position again. If she saw someone who was going to hurt someone in her family, she was going to be able to reach out and stop them. She said that, and then she looked at me and touched my hand and said, "You know you're my family now, don't you, Ash?"

God, Allers, why did you have to come ask me these questions? I should have died on the Citadel, not her. Is that a good enough quote for your vid? Will you leave me alone now?

#

JAVIK: What do I want the galaxy to know about Commander Shepard? I want them to know that she failed.

ALLERS: What?

JAVIK: Do you think we were meant to undergo this – melding – with the machines? Do you think Reapers who _understand_ us are any less dangerous? Either Shepard's soft-heartedness led her to make a terrible mistake, or she was deceived about what the Crucible would do.

ALLERS: The Reapers are helping us rebuild. Don't you think...

JAVIK: You are a fool! Look at the recordings from the battle for Earth. Track down the estimates of Reaper troop strength. Then count the Reapers who are "helping you." For every one of them, there are nine more out there in the void.

ALLERS: Doing what?

RECORDING ENDS.


End file.
